Developing Story | Pope Francis meets with bishops about the abuse crisis

The crisis has drawn in the Pope following accusations by a retired Vatican official that Francis rehabilitated the former Archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, after McCarrick was sanctioned for sexually abusive behaviour with seminarians.

Pope Francis addressed the recent sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in some controversial remarks Tuesday in his homily.

- Pope Francis Thursday accepted the resignation of Bishop Michael J. Bransfield from the pastoral government of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, and asked the archbishop of Baltimore to launch an investigation into allegations of abuse.

The private meeting held in the tiny state's Apostolic Palace included the three top officials from the body that runs the U.S. Catholic Church, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: Cardinal Daniel Di Nardo, the president, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, deputy president, and Monsignor Brian Bransfield, secretary general.

The recently released grand jury report into sex abuse within the Catholic Church named Wuerl as someone who had allowed priests to continue their work despite allegations of abuse.

No details about the allegations were revealed yet and Bransfield's ministry, the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, said they had "no idea" where he was.

Since the Pennsylvaniareport was issued last month, prosecutors in a half-dozen us states have announced plans for similar investigations.

In a statement issued Thursday regarding the case of Bransfield, Lori said: "My primary concern is for the care and support of the priests and people of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston at this hard time", Catholic News Service reported.

While Francis has often talked about sexual crimes as an abuse of power, some conservatives say the Pope has downplayed the role of homosexuality among priests while instead signalling a slightly more inclusive stance about gays within the church.

DiNardo, of the archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in Texas, requested the meeting with the pontiff as the Catholic Church in the United States faces clerical sex abuse scandals on several fronts.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the US bishops' conference, asked for the meeting after Viganò last month accused the pope of knowing for years about sexual misconduct by former USA cardinal Theodore McCarrick and doing nothing about it.

The pontiff has so far refused to respond to the allegations.

"There's absolutely no reason to think any good will come of such a meeting", given the church's decades of failure to reform, David Clohessy, former director of the victims' advocacy group SNAP, said.

McCarrick, whom the pope ordered to live a life of seclusion and penitence, has said he has "absolutely no recollection" of such an incident.

The pope initially said he would not say a "single word" on the accusations and refused to even answer a question about when he first knew of McCarrick's behavior.

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